57th Army (Soviet Union)
The 57th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army that was created in 1941, and then disbanded and created a second time in 1943. The 57th Army was employed by the Soviets in the fight against Germany during World War II. History First formation The 57th Army was formed in October 1941 and subordinated to the RVGK (reserves of the supreme command).Glantz, p. 58 Still under RVGK control in December 1941, the 57th Army was made up of the following units. :333rd Rifle Division :335th Rifle Division :337th Rifle Division :341st Rifle Division :349th Rifle Division :351st Rifle Division :60th Cavalry Division :79th Cavalry Division During the May 1942 Battle of Kharkov, the army was surrounded and practically destroyed.Newland and Chun, p. 77 Attempting to break out, General Podlas, the army commander, was killed in action. Slowly rebuilt, by December 1942, the army was part of the Stalingrad Front. The 57th Army was disbanded in February 1943 to form the headquarters of the 68th Army.Glantz, p. 58 Second formation The 57th Army was formed a second time in April 1943 and subordinated to the Southwestern Front. The 68th Rifle Corps first appears in Soviet OOB 1 August 1943, as part of the 57th Army, Southwestern Front. Subordinate divisions at this time were the 19th, 52nd, and 303rd Rifle Divisions. The army subsequently fought in the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Hungary until the end of the war. During the final months of the war, the army occupied the southernmost position of the Soviet front line; to the south of 57th Army on the eastern front were Bulgarian (including the Bulgarian First Army) and Yugoslavian forces. At war's end, the 57th Army was subordinated to the 3rd Ukrainian Front, and commanded the following forces. Infantry units :6th Guards Rifle Corps ::10th Guards Airborne Division ::20th Guards Rifle Division ::61st Guards Rifle Division :64th Rifle Corps ::73rd Guards Rifle Division ::113th Rifle Division ::299th Rifle Division :133rd Rifle Corps ::84th Rifle Division ::104th Rifle Division ::122nd Rifle Division Artillery units :160th Gun-Artillery Brigade :42nd Guards Corps Artillery Regiment :374th Antitank Regiment :523rd Mortar Regiment :71st Anti-Aircraft Regiment Engineer units :65th Engineer-Sapper Brigade Postwar, the 57th Army was stationed in Romania until 1947, at which time the army was disbanded.Feskov, p. 45 Commanders * 10.41 - 02.42 D. I. Riabyshev * 02.42 - 05.42 K. P. Podlas * 05.42 - 06.42 A. G. Batiunia * 06.42 - 07.42 D. N. Nikishev * 07.42 - 01.43 F. I. Tolbukhin * 05.43 - 10.44 N. A. Gagen * 10.44 - 05.45 M. N. Sharokhin Notes References * Keith Bonn, Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005 * V.I. Feskov et al., The Soviet Army in the Period of the Cold War, Tomsk University Press, 2004 * David Glantz, Companion to Colussus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005 * Jean-Luc Marchand, Order of Battle Soviet Army World War 2, 24 volumes, The Nafziger Collection * Samuel J. Newland and Clayton K. S. Chun, The European Campaign: Its Origins and Conduct, U.S. Army War College SSI, Carlisle, PA, 2011 - Online version External links * http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/arm.html - (Russian) * Combat Composition of the Soviet Army via tashv.nm.ru Category:Field armies of the Soviet Union Category:Military units and formations established in 1941 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1947